Month: January 2024

Junk Journal January: I Quit!

~ Patty Radish ~ 8 Comments

This probably seems a bit strange to quit when I’m almost at the end of this challenge, Day 26, but I need to move on. I did a page spread a day during the Holidays, even when I was under the weather, so I have been ‘at it’ for two months now and I need to get other things done. I’m going to try to finish up this journal using the prompts, but not every day. There are five left.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had nothing but fun doing this challenge, I just hit a bit of a slump creatively (at least for this project) and want to work on something else. But since I have finished four more pages, I thought I would share them with you.

Day 23: “Texture”

A scrunched up doily, a paper cluster, some layered paper pieces painted with gesso, a bird holding some dried weeds, and some dollops of pink paint. This page spread brings to mind a bit of the reason why working in this journal has become a bit daunting…it’s massive! I realize I am the one who decided to add all the layers, but I think next time I do one of these challenges, I’ll make two journals.

Day 24: “Fabric”

In my attempt to cut down on pages in this journal, and to help keep it closed, I made this quilted cover. These are so easy, and so much fun, to make. Although I used an old quilt for this one, these are just as easy to make with two pieces of fabric and some batting…and a little decor. I want to make a video of how I create these. Let me know in the comments if you would like me to share the instructions here too, I could do both then share a link to the video.

Day 25: “Ombre”

This one had me thinking. I looked up ‘ombre’ online to get some inspiration, but it was mostly hair styles. I had been experimenting with watercolor on tissue a few months ago, so this background piece was ready to go. I looked around my stash for ephemera that might match the colors as they graduated across the pages, and this is what I came up with. I still think it looks a bit of a mess, but it was fun to try.

Day 26: “Translucent”

This is one of my favorite pages. I kind hit the ‘easy button’ with this one, stickers and envelopes, but I love the mix of neutrals and color. I needed a couple more tuck spots for my journaling pages, although I’m not sure I want to fill that pocket on the right, I like seeing all the layers.

The biggest reason I have decided to take a break from art journaling every day is because I am working on some new ephemera packs for my shoppe. I’ve had a lot of success with my “curated” ephemera packs. In case you haven’t been to my shoppe in a while, my curated packs are filled with bits of ephemera I create, not just images cut from books and gathered with other ‘made’ items. They are pretty popular and don’t stay in my shoppe for long. I will also be selling journals that are stitched and not ring bound pretty soon, I might even try putting some of my hand stitched covers in there. This has become one of my favorite creative projects, and when it comes to creativity, you have to go with what ever makes your heart sing…so I am!

It has been fun having an excuse to come on here more often and catch up with you and I hope I can keep that up with other projects. I will share the last pages of this journal as soon as I get them finished.

Until Then,

As always,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty

Junk Journal January: Week 3

~ Patty Radish ~ 3 Comments

I was hoping to share this yesterday, but there wasn’t enough time in the day.

So, here we go…

Day 15: “Opposites”

Like many of the prompts, I had a lot of fun with this one, squares and circles, dark and light, black and white, colors and neutrals.

I have been sharing these pages on Instagram, and it’s funny, the pages I like best don’t get many likes. I used to let that bother me, but I have trust issues with the IG’s. Let me know in the comments your feelings about Instagram, I’m still disappointed in the changes that keep happening.

Day 16: “Flow”

Oh my, this did not come out the way I had originally planned it! This is a technique that I love to play with, drippy watercolor. I had it in my mind that I would be “In the ‘Flow” doing something I love, but it just turned into a mess! I used the dictionary paper pieces to cover what I had pulled up then popped on some butterflies and flowers and called it good. The beautiful quote by Washington Irving fixes it up a bit though.

Day 17: “Whimsical”

This was fun! I used a piece of watercolored paper for the background so it would blend into the previous pages a bit, fussy cut some beautiful daisies from one of my favorite Etsy shops LoveJunkJournals by Tracie Fox, and added critters with people balloons. So Fun!

Day 18: “Borders”

Another one I really enjoyed putting together, it feels whimsical too. I cut the frames out from some scrapbook paper, glued vintage looking paper on to the backs, and slipped in the characters. They look like they are trying to escape from their frames.

Day 19: “Interactive”

There is a lot of collage here, so it may be difficult to see what’s going on. On the left, there is an envelope, with a window, and an opening towards the edge of the page. On the right is an envelope that I’d sewn into the journal when I made it. I’m using these to store my printed journal pages in.

The next page…

Another envelope, but with the opening at the top.

Day 20: “Nature”

Using some simple pieces I have on hand, tissue paper, digitals, scrapbook paper, scrap text pieces, and a beautiful quote from Lao Tzu.

Day 21 “Peeking Out”

A little lady peeking out from a pocket and a circle punch peeking from a notch in a page. I folded the small page in half and punched out the notch, fitted the double sided punched piece into the notch and glued it. It doesn’t really have any use other than a way to turn the page.

The other side, see that tab came in handy! 

Another week of ‘Junk Journal January’ in the bag so to speak. I’m finishing up week 4 and will be sharing that this weekend, fingers crossed, so I hope to see you then!

Until Next Time,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty

Junk Journal January: Week 2

~ Patty Radish ~ 8 Comments

Some of the prompts at this point started to throw me. If you’re following me along on Instagram, I’m all over the place. Jumping from ‘catching up’ to the present and back again. As a matter of fact, I wanted to write this blog post last week, but “Garden” wasn’t even started…that’s ‘Day 13’. But, I’m pretty well caught up now.

Day 8: “Neutral”

Some of my favorite neutral images on one page spread. I have been holding on to some of these images for years. It’s alway a good feeling when precious ephemera finds a home. This is the backside of “Stitched” and I wanted to use that paperclip somehow, so I made that old photo into a cabinet card and dangled it.

Day 9: “Foliage”

The background images on these pages are some favorites, but a bit dull. I stenciled over them with some bright greens to liven things up a bit and added the usual suspects…postage stamps and butterflies. I have found Butterfly heaven in one of my new favorite Etsy shops TheJunkJournalStudio There’s a lot of fussy cutting involved, but boy is it worth it!

Day 10: “Layered”

I started with layering some tissue paper bits, brushed on some watered down gesso to push some of the color into the background, then added some neutral paper pieces to help pop the bird, butterflies and flowers. That’s definitely some layers.

Day 11: “Eclectic”

I threw everything onto this page spread. This one is at the end of the journal because I wanted to use that tea dyed envelope, and I couldn’t make it work anywhere else. It was a lot of fun just playing with odds and ends here, I’ll have to do this more often.

Day 12: “Torn Edges”

This is a technique I’ve added recently, inking the paper edges. I used to think it was more work than it was worth, but I have a lot of colored ink pads that I need to use before they dry up, and I thought this would be fun.

Day 13: “Garden”

This did not turn out the way I had planned. I totally made a mess out of the stenciling, flowers and butterflies to the rescue!

Moving along…

Day 14: “Pattern”

Of course the first thing I think of is a sewing pattern. Oh, the hours spent pinning tissue paper to fabric to cut and sew, I loved it! I used some images from a vintage sewing book, pieces of an old quilt, then drew in some hexes with pencil. I really had fun with this one.

Well, I hope you are enjoying my travels with “Junk Journal January 2024”! I go back and forth about how I feel about prompts and daily page spreads. Next time I may try to do one page each, or make 2 journals. I can barely close this one already!

I’m hoping to post ‘Week 3’ next week Wednesday since I’ve finally been able to catch up

As always,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty

Junk Journal January 2024

~ Patty Radish ~ 11 Comments

Hello, it’s been a while! I hope your new year is full of love and light so far!

Even though I haven’t spent a lot of time here in quite a while, I have definitely been keeping busy. Over the holiday season I worked on finishing up two Christmas journals (I shared those mostly on YouTube). It was fun until I caught something that knocked me on my butt for the rest of the year. I’m better now and decided at the last minute to join “Junk Journal January” on IG. Now, I went back and forth about this because I took on a pretty big custom project for my shoppe and it was so much fun to work on I couldn’t put it down. But, I dipped back into J.J.J. a little late in the game, and I’ve really been having fun with it.

I’ll be sharing ‘week one’ today, ‘week two’ next week, and so on.

Here goes…

Day 1: ‘Resolutions’

I kept my resolutions (printed on the bag of that tag) to a minimum. “Healing” my ‘Word of the Year’, “My Shoppes” I (re)opened my other shop to sell home stuff and jewelry, and I have a lot of stuff I could sell in my art journaling shoppe, “YouTube” so far that hasn’t gone anywhere, “House and Garden Plans” still in the works. And I’m continuing some of the good habits I picked up last year, like actual journaling, more on that in a later.

Day 2: ‘Quote’

Having a ‘Word of the Year’ has really helped me through some tough issues over the years. It’s a great way to focus your thoughts when they start jetting around your head. So, I wanted my WOTY this year to be “Healing” and I found this awesome quote to go with.

Day 3: ‘Throwback’

This prompt always throws me, it can mean so many things, but that’s what YouTube is for. Being late to the party with this challenge has its advantages, you can see what other people are doing and get ideas. I found this subscription form in an old book and I loved the garden theme, I glued a journaling spot on the back of it.

Day 4: ‘Tuck Spot’

I made two. That’s an envelope on the left. I do all of my journaling on the computer now, I print them up then stick them into my journals. I realized last year that the reason I stopped journaling was because my brain worked faster than my hand could write, and was losing my train of thought in the middle of my sentences, then I’d just give up. I don’t know why typing helps me keep my train of thought, but it does, and if it works, go with it! (also, spell check is my friend!)

Day 5:’ Daily Log’

This isn’t as much a ‘daily log’ as much as a reference list. This is what I referred to while working on the project for my shoppe. I really had fun with the decor on here. The stitched cluster paperclip was something I saw on Youtube, and the photo in the pocket is an old postcard that needed a home. Most of my pages in this journal are on the muted side, but it’s a nice vacation for the eyes after all that color I used in my Christmas journals. I did a flip through on my YouTube channel if you want to check those out.

Day 6: “Memory”

This was serendipitous, I had grabbed a book the day before and a dried, pressed flower fell out. It was a flower that my grandson had picked for me in 2022 I had forgotten all about. The flower on the right is pressed between some clear label paper and tracing paper. The one on the left I used some packing tape and tracing paper. I’m sure there are better ways of preserving flowers, but they needed a home before they fell apart, or I lost them again. The hydrangea photo is from a trip to visit our sons last year.

Day 7: “Stitched”

This was fun! I took the inspiration from that small stitched paperclip and used it on this oversized one. The background of these pages are from an 80’s craft book, I lightly gessoed over. I added trim bits before stitching this mini file folder together to make a pocket, then decorated the tag with a simple running stitch.

Because these page are more than a week late, I have been struggling with when, and whether or not, to share them. Or, because I have shared these photos on Instagram, should I share them here? It’s a whole thing. In the end, I have been ignoring this blog because of my indecision. Let me know in the comments what you think.

I hope you will stay tuned for next week’s installment of this project!

Until then,

Thank you so much visiting,

Have a great week,

~Patty